This invention relates to restraint garments for restraining passive patients and particularly to garments for restraining incorrigible patients of all ages and sizes, especially those patients under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and/or mental dysfunction, to provide protection to the patient as well as to attendants.
More specifically, this invention relates to a restraint garment for restraining movement of the upper torso of a patient while allowing freedom of limb movement, which enables an attendant to quickly custom-fit the garment about the patient, and which prevents the patient from defeating the imposed restraint under most circumstances.
Restraint garments have found particular utility in controlling the actions and in limiting the mobility of a patient/user for various reasons, including passive people who may be infirm, senile, or recovering from surgery, and aggressive people who may be under the influence of drugs, alcohol or mental dysfunction. Additionally, some restraint garments have been used for children, for many occasions, and for injured people, especially those who have lost their motor functions.
Pediatric restraints have been used to secure infants to a bed or chair, to inhibit movement sideways or lengthwise, and combination bibs/restraints have been used for safely holding and securing a child in a structure to prevent a fall or other injury.
Adult restraints have been used to restrict excessive movement of a person laterally and/or longitudinally, with various degrees of limb movement available to the person. The confinement of a person is generally to a bed, chair, wheelchair or other similar structure, for the various reasons stated.
For the most part, attention has been given to such garments regarding the comfort of the person so that abrasions and sores do not result, and regarding the safety of the person so that they are not injured such as by impaired circulation or by strangulation, and regarding the anxiety and panic syndrome on the part of the wearer, which can lead to flailing limbs and/or to depression.
Some restraints have taken the form of jackets, vests with wing straps which wrap around the patient, and pull-overs which cover at least the upper torso of the person, each having variations of belts, straps, loops, hooks, eyelets, lacing, buttons, clasps, clamps, buckles and other fasteners including the hook-loop interacting materials known as Velcro.
Restraint garments have been produced from flexible materials, usually a fabric, and a few have head openings to slip over the person's head, some of which openings comprise a lacing and a protective tongue between the lacing and the person. Dual strap abdominal support sections on the lower anterior portion of a garment have been employed, as well as multipaneled garments connected by ties.
Various limitations exist with the previous restraint garments, but one of the greatest drawbacks includes the ability of the patient to defeat the restraint, through large arm openings and/or via fasteners or tying straps within reach of the patient, whereby the patient negotiates a way free, leading to serious consequences to the patient and/or to the attendants physically, and to the facility housing the patient regarding liability claim potential.
Further limitations of some restraint garments include the development by the patient of abrasions from bulky construction or from various fasteners, which abrasions can become infected. Additionally, some restraints are too restrictive regarding the movement of the upper torso of the patient, leading to bed sores.
Other restraint garments have employed various strapping devices which have led to psychological chaos of patients when they are restrained. And, some restraint garments are cumbersome for attendants and are time consuming to apply and/or to remove from patients, due in part to the presence of fixed or permanent arm openings.
Until the present time, the primary means for attendants to restrain aggressive patients was to employ restraint garments which unduly restrained the patients.